


Like Real People Do

by meif-wa (fizziefizzco)



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25223389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fizziefizzco/pseuds/meif-wa
Summary: Itaru invites you out on a date to a social work function with him. The problem is that you’re just as much of an awkward nerd as he is. hugs, arm in arm, linking arms, public displays of affection, kiss on the back of the hand - for @sparklycupcake56
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Reader
Kudos: 36





	Like Real People Do

You had no idea what kind of outfit would be acceptable. Your options were laid out before you, and you were analyzing each one as though you were picking which hero and gear to take with you on an adventure.  
Your mouth formed a quick frown as your eyes flicked around.   
Pants?.. Skirt?… dress? Is this too casual, is this too much?  
You’d never gone to a place like this before, and Itaru wasn’t answering his phone because of course he wasn’t - he was probably already done picking clothes out- and already neck deep in some raid.   
He’d owe you a big one for this. 

* * *

“So.” his words were trailed off as he messed with the paper wrapping of the coffee cup in front of him.   
The other day, your boyfriend Itaru Chigasaki had invited you out to lunch on both of your lunch breaks. You sat in front of him, picking at the sandwich you’d ordered when he dropped the question on you. Just. Like. That.  
“I want you to come with me to a work party. But we have to look uh, acceptable.” Itaru had scooted I’m closer to say this, in a whisper as though anyone would be listening to them.  
“What?” You asked, sitting back in your seat after flopping your sandwich back down in astonishment. “I’m not sure if I -“ the words caught in your throat. The nicest clothes you had were the ones that were in you right now at this moment. Yeah. You cringed as you though of it. Your work uniform. Itaru noticed you wringing your hands together , and reached forward to take one into his own. He gave you a semi-gentle semi-cheeky smile as he rubbed the back of your hand.  
“I’ll get Rurikawa to help you. He’s been itching for the ability to do women’s clothing.” Itaru nodded. Ah, you thought to yourself. Rurikawa Yuki was one of the other actors on Itaru’s theatre company, and you’d had the chance to meet him a few times when you visited to see shows. He was an excellent designer, and seemed to notice that you were a propmaker, both in the industry and as a fan of cosplay. He’d probably laugh at the request to make a nice outfit for you, but ... would do it nonetheless.   
“I..”The words stuck in your mouth again as you tried to find another reason to get out of the social event. A metaphorical light bulb appeared, the moment you remembered.   
Itaru raised a hand , a solemn expression on his face. “Don’t worry about the raid. It doesn’t start until after we finish up at the party.” You looked at him in slack-jawed wonder. Then sighed deeply and rubbed your temples. You had no other excuses. None. Nada. Zilch.   
“Alright.” You dragged out in a manner similar to that of an annoyed teen, “I’ll do it. I’ll go with you.”   
Itaru jumped up from his seat in excitement, the other patrons of the restaurant looking at him like he was crazy, before he sat back down slowly. “Alright!” He grinned at you, again with a wild look in his eyes.   
“You truly are an SSR level girlfriend.” 

* * *

The outfit that Rurikawa had made for you was... well, it was really nice. You had to hand it to him, the kid knew how to make good clothing. Apparently, according to Izumi, he’d gotten into a small argument with Sakyo over the materials- making it that much more important that you wore it tonight. 

You’d gone over to Mankai alone that evening, something you’d never done before- and had gotten your hair and makeup done. Itaru was nowhere to be found, and Izumi told you he was likely still at work- where he had been all day.   
So was he just wearing work clothing? You thought to yourself as you waited outside the hotel where the event was taking place at. It was surprising how nice the event was, as you had assumed that Itaru’s work was just some random small office firm - nope. There were alist level outfits, and model-esque people that all arrived while you were waiting.   
Just then, a car pulled up to the valet that you recognized. It was Itaru’s car. The other women that had been waiting with you all rushed over, causing you to take a step back in shock. Itaru was super popular at work, this you knew, but you didn’t think he was this popular.   
The driver side door opened and your jaw dropped the moment you saw him. He’d gone from SR level hotness to UR Bloomed level hotness. His suit, his hair, the way he carried himself - all of it was something similar to an actor, or a top model.This being the same man that owned a body pillow of a game character, and spoke mostly gaming lingo when the two of you were alone together. The same one who used the same brand of cologne because it was a promotional item for his favorite game.   
And he was walking over to you now.   
You tried to hide your face from the other women, squatting down and covering your face with your hands. Bad Idea. Your ankles were not suited for these heels, there was a reason you made props and weren’t a cosplayer. You almost fell over from the strain on your ankles, when strong arms caught you. You looked up into the face of Itaru, who smiled back at you.   
“Sorry I’m late.” Itaru hummed as he helped you back on your feet. Your boyfriend looked you up and down, the same calculating gaze as when he chose which card to play in a card-based game. You nodded, face still red with flush. “You look really good tonight.” He spoke again, as you managed to find your words.   
“So.. So do you.” You coughed out. “I have to admit Itaru, I wasn’t catalyze expecting this...” Your words were slow and steady as you looked around the both of you. You could hear whispers about the two of you, about who you were , and some compliments about how good you looked together. Itaru chuckled softly, bowing as he kissed one of your hands. This sent you even more over the edge of how flushed a face could be. Itaru closed the distance between the both of you as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders lovingly.   
“We get to play the part of normal people tonight.” He whispered, sending shivers down your spine- and electricity through every nerve. “Lets have some fun. Huh?” He rubbed your shoulders as he pulled away slightly. You gulped down some air, trying to shake off your anxiety. “Sure.” You answered, “Let’s do this.” 

* * *

The space the party was being held at was the large ballroom that the hotel contained. It was beautifully decorated, and you could feel the sparks forming in your mind for inspiration. Itaru chuckled softly as he led you through the crowd. Your arm was linked in his, the closeness meant that the two of you radiated heat off onto each other, and you felt warmer in his presence.   
“What?” You questioned quietly, looking up at itaru who shook his head.   
“Nothing, I’m just thinking about how good you look right now.” Itaru teased, his smile only growing wider at your look of shock. He leant in during your moment of surprise to kiss you, the kiss leaving you breathless and wanting more as he pulled away, satisfied.   
“Lets start our hard-level quest.” You mumbled, touching your lips gently and diverting your gaze away. “I want to meet your coworkers.” When you looked up at him again, you contained more resilience than before. Working in the acting industry, you had picked up a few tips here and there as you flitted about before joining the props department. Itaru also noticed the new persona you put on, as his timid and awkward Otaku girlfriend was now replaced by someone else. Someone more, and he meant no offence by this, socially capable.  
“This is my boss and his wife.” Itaru motioned as the two of you approached an older man and the woman under his arm. You nodded, able to adapt and introduce yourself with grace and left a lasting impression as you talked about your own work, and about life with Itaru. It seemed that people were really interested to meet you- as they’d kind of expected that your boyfriend would have been a bachelor. The two of you weren’t really public with your relationship besides in your online games, so this was a chance to show you off- as you learned.   
“You’re doing well at this.” Itaru joked between meeting people. You smiled, a bit of your true self showing through. “I’m trying my hardest with this acting persona.” was all you said as you made a show of fixing Itaru’s tie, the both of you trying hard to look normal. “Well, from an actor’s view-” Itaru took your hands in his, holding them up between the two of you, and pressed another breath-stealing kiss onto your lips. “I think you’re doing amazing for your first time.” This was your turn to shake him up, as you tugged on his tie, leaning in dangerously close to his neck with your lips.  
“When did I say this was my first time?” Letting his tie go with a wink, you wandered away and into the crowd on your own. Itaru took a moment to adjust to what had just happened, but shook his head with a grin before going off into the other direction. 

* * *

The magic of the evening was wearing off for a moment, and you’d grabbed a drink with your dazzling smile- and moved to a fairly seculded table. When you noticed that you were relatively alone, you allowed yourself to sigh and take a sip of your drink. 

You had no clue how Itaru did this; the acting. He acted normal every day, and then had more acting as part of Mankai Company. You on the other hand, were part of a majorly nerdy team of prop makers, and never really had a persona that you had to portray. You had to give props to Itaru’s strength.   
Standing alone, you were deep into zoning out, when you felt someone’s hand on your shoulder- definetly not Itaru.   
“Leaving a lady like you alone here? Chigasaki must be out of his mind.” The voice was unknown, but calm and mellow, and you turned around to find someone new in front of you. Tall and handsome, the man was just as well-dressed as Itaru, only it felt to you that this was his natural form. He had green tinted hair, but it worked for him. In other words: a major attractive man.   
“I’m so sorry.” The persona’s switch came on and you set your drink down, offering a hand out to the unknown man. “I don’t think Itaru’s introduced us before. I’m y/n.” The man let out a small chuckle, and his smile was on par with Itaru’s. The man took your hand, and in one fail swoop- had pulled you in close, his hand holding your waist firmly. Oh no. YOur face heated up invoulentarily, and the man leaned down to whisper into your ear.   
“I’m Ustuki Chikage. It’s nice to meet you.”   
You stumbled back, out of his grasp. Though the man remained calm and composed, with a friendly expression, you could tell that he liked making people squirm. Though.. you weren’t his target. His target was rapidly approaching, trying to remain casual and not as though he’d caught his rival trying to flirt with his girlfriend.   
“Ustuki.” Itaru’s voice was low, and similar to that of a growl. The man you’d just met remained smiling, raising both of his hands up. “No need to get so hostile Chigasaki; I was only introducing myself to your lovely girlfriend.” He spoke, “I’m going now. It really was so nice to meet you y/n. I hope we can meet again soon.”   
The moment that Chikage had disappeared back into the crowd, Itaru let a piece of the veil slip, and turned back to you with a deep sigh.   
“You’re okay right? He didn’t hurt you?” He asked, looking over you in concern. You shook your head. “No. I-I’m fine.” You mumbled, “Who was that?” Itaru let out a sigh of relief and smoothed his hair and suit. “It’s- just some guy in my department who considers me his rival. Luckily for us, he’s always out on some work trip, so it’s not likely you’ll see him again.” Itaru’s words were evidence enough that his mind was scattered. You offered him a hug from behind, laying your face into his back. Itaru calmed down almost immediately, smiling at patting your hands. He looked over his shoulder at you.   
“Let’s go dance.” 

* * *

“I don’t know how to dance!” You tried to whisper shout to Itaru, who only smiled at you with all of his teeth showing, as he pulled you in tight. He leaned down, with his lips dangerously close to your neck and whispered.

“Just take my hand then, I won’t let you fall.” In a deep and seductive voice you’d never heard him use before. You felt like a young girl, your face heating up from the flush that arrived in full force. You could only do what Itaru said, and followed his directions to take one of his hands, and laid the other on his shoulder.   
You’d wanted to make a noise of protest the moment that Itaru laid his hand on your waist, but your protest was stopped by Itaru making a ‘shh’ expression. So you persevered, and tried not to look as awkward as you felt.   
The music, although one for slow dancing to, was trendy. You didn’t listen to this kind of music often- but one of your fellow props department team mates was a rather interesting character. A feminine girl, but one who loved splatterpunk horror - this was one of her favorite songs. Itaru held onto you, and moved slowly as to teach you the basic dance moves. You studied them carefully, though not without a few stumbles and slip ups.  
“I think you’re getting the hang of this.” Itaru commented as you momentarily took a look up from your feet to gaze at him. You cleared your throat and looked back down at your feet, responding softly.   
“I’m glad you see it like that, I think I’m all left feet.” Your joke was met with a hum in acknowledgement from Itaru. He took his hand off from your waist, and used it to lift your chin up so that you were looking him in the eyes. His eyes were so captivating and glittering, drawing you into the moment.   
“That’s better.” He hummed again, this time a lot more mellow, and his hand returned itself back to its proper home on your waist. “I like seeing your pretty eyes. That, and it’s much easier to get the hang of dancing if you’re not trying to wait to slip up.”   
Your face was red again with blush, but you held on and tried to clear your mind of the attractive distraction that stood mere inches away from you. Eventually, you got the hang of dancing, not enough to be a master dancer - but you weren’t stumbling and stepping on his feet. That was a big plus. 

* * *

At the end of the evening, you’d managed to lose track of Itaru again in the hubbub of the party. So you’d decided to head outside the hotel venue, and wait for your boyfriend on a bench outside. 

It was a nice night, you thought to yourself as you took a seat on the bench, looking up at the star filled sky with a wistful smile. The air was cool, and nipped at your exposed shoulders, causing you to shiver a bit and rub your arms.   
All in all, the evening wasn’t that bad you had to admit. It might’ve been taxing on your social anxiety, and the majority of your interactions were acted out via a persona, but it had been fun. You smiled to yourself as you bent down to slide your heels off, yeah - it was fun.   
A few minutes later, and a warm jacket was draped over your shoulders, breaking you out of your reverie. You jumped slightly, and looked up to meet eyes with Itaru, who’d messed his hair up back to its normal state. He looked just as tired as you were, and loosened his tie as he plopped down on the bench next to you.   
“Well beautiful, I think we won S rank on this evening’s quest.” Were the first words out of his mouth, and you found yourself breaking out into laughter.   
“Yeah.”You nodded. “I think we did. That final boss was a bit of a struggle, but we kicked it’s ass.” Itaru then did another thing to take your breath away. He quickly stole another kiss, gently guiding your chin over to his as your lips connected. Your wrapped your arms around his shoulders, and pulled him in for another kiss- one that lasted a few moments longer than the other. It would have been a lot longer, if not for-  
A throat cleared. Ah. The Valet. Itaru’s car was now parked a few feet away from them, and the well-dressed valet handed the keys off to Itaru, who thanked him. Your boyfriend turned to you, offering you his arm again like he had at the start of the night.   
“I’d say your place or mine, but your place has a lot more privacy, and there are a lot of things I want to do to you before the raid.” His voice was cheeky, but still had an air of seductive-ness. You stood up on your bare feet that were kinda sore, and took his arm. “Then lets head to my place then.” You smirked back, Itaru leading you into his car. 

* * *

Walking out into the living room of your apartment, the magic of the evening had long since wore off, and both of you were now in your usual otaku/gamer digs. You dried your hair with a towel as you saw Itaru with his laptop On his lap, scrolling through .. was that ?  
“Who took photos of us earlier?” You asked with definite intent, leaning over Itaru’s shoulder as you took his laptop from him.  
“Hey!” Itaru protested as you stood up with his laptop, chasing after you as you moved to the table in your kitchen area. He moved to snatch the laptop back from you, giving you a challenging look as he wrenched the piece of technology from your hands. “Aish- , You’re going to be the death of me.” He hissed, though with a bit of a teasing smile at the end.   
“Yeah; and those photos are going to be the death of me.” You pointed repeatedly at his laptop that Itaru cuddled close to his chest. “I can’t have my work seeing me looking ... normal.” You spoke the words as though they were the most disgusting thing. Itaru shook his head and set the laptop down before sitting next to you, but on the table. He looked at you with a lopsided smile while you gave him a quizzical but annoyed expression.   
“What?” You asked, though slightly more exasperated than you meant to come off as.  
“Well.. I thought you looked nice this evening.” He turned to a more dazzling smile, one where you felt like you knew what his acting fans were talking about. Itaru cocked his head to the side, and leaned in close to you. You couldn’t figure out what to do as he kept coming closer, until Itaru was just barely a hair’s breath away from you.Instinctively, you closed your eyes and posed for another kiss from this evening when...  
“Pff-HAHA!” Itaru broke into laughter as he sat back up straight. You looked at him in annoyance as he continued to laugh. “Come on babe, the raid is going to start soon.” He spoke as he stood up, grabbing his laptop and heading back the couch. 


End file.
